Recognizing Stakeholders and Factors Mediating Washback in Language Testing

Any test or assessment’s effect on teaching and learning is termed as “washback”. Empirical studies conducted in this area are relatively recent, starting with the remarkable work of Alderson and Wall in 1993. Studies conducted thereafter inquired into different aspects of washback. In light of these studies, this critical review would explore the stakeholders of washback and the factors outside of the test itself which could affect how it has an impact. It indicates that although a test’s washback remains at the core of the complex connection among classroom teaching, learning, and assessment, a test cannot solely lead the classroom teaching and learning; rather, it is intervened by the different overriding agents, e.g., teachers, students, and contexts shaped by them. Notwithstanding that, teachers are the ones who can maintain a leading role in generating positive washback of target tests. In the end, this article draws suggestions from the literature showing what teachers should do to warrant a positive washback.